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Da 'Ole Of Death Chapta 23 | |
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Chapta 23 |
Apart from the stompas, which remained cut off, most of the remaining ork army had now fallen back to within the city walls, and fresh troops that were arriving were being directed to take up positions on the fortifications themselves. Zhalrad pushed his way through the crowd of orks attempting to get through the city gates ahead of him. “Geddout of me way!” he bellowed as he swung his axe to clear a path, lopping the heads from a pair of orks who did not get out the way fast enough. He stopped just within the gates and looked back out onto the battlefield. There he saw the line of necron pyramids getting ever closer, though they moved at such a ponderous rate that the few remaining ork troops could easily out run them. What was a greater concern to Zhalrad was that the portals on the front of the pyramids continued to spew forth more and more of the skeletal warriors. There was no way that these silent necron troops could be stopped before they reached the walls, and the city’s fortifications would have to be made as strong as possible. “Get dem gates shut!” ordered Zhalrad. “But dare is still lads out dare boss!” an ork nob replied. “Shut da bloody gates!” Zhalrad shouted as he put a bullet between the eyes of the nob who had dared to question him, and orks flocked to the inside of the gates to push them closed. As they did so orks still outside the city ran for all they worth to try and get back inside before they were locked outside and caught between the necron army and the city walls. The gates shut with a dull thump and also a crunch as an unfortunate ork was crushed between them as he failed to get inside the city quickly enough. While a heavy metal bar was being lowered into place to seal the gates that still had orks hammering on from outside, Zhalrad himself made his way back to his command post on the ramparts. Reaching the command post he found Drazzok and Sophie still there. Sophie sat near the back, with her face discoloured from tears, while the weirdboy was looking out over the walls, watching the battle. “Was dat da best ya could do?” he said without taking his eyes off the battlefield as Zhalrad entered, “I is startin’ to think dat Hazug’s plan is better da wot ya ‘ave just done down dare.” “Watch it weirdo,” Zhalrad replied, “it’s a long way to drop ya accidentally fall over.” Drazzok just grunted and continued to watch the fighting. Gobnok remained on point, his flamethrower held at the ready, though the greenskins were not ignorant of the possibility of an attack coming from behind them, and Nizz who was bringing up the rear frequently looked over his shoulder to make sure that there was nothing behind him. However, since the attack by the swarm of metallic insects there had been no signs of any necron presence, but neither was there any sign of an exit from the duct. “Dis is getting’ annoyin’,” Ghukil said, “Dare ‘as to be a way out somewhere.” “Hold it,” Hazug said, stopping, and the others also stopped. “I reckon we ought to make our own way out.” “Yeah,” said Ubgrub, who reached for a grenade, “let’s blast another ‘ole.” “Don’t be daft lad,” Hazug scolded him, “let off a stikkbomm in ‘ere and ya’ll blow us all up with it.” “So wot is we goin’ to use boss?” Ghukil asked. “Me choppa,” Hazug replied, “it sliced through da wall easy enough when we was fightin’ dem bugs, so I reckon dat it’ll cut through da roof just as well. Stand back.” The other greenskins stepped away from Hazug to give him room to swing the alien weapon. He moved it in a vertical arc, and just as he had hoped it gouged a long slit in the ceiling of the duct. Fortunately the ceiling above him lacked the volatile conduits like the one that had ruptured during the earlier fight, and so there was no sudden release of gas this time. Turning the weapon through ninety degrees, Hazug swung it again a cut a second slit the intersected the first one. With a third swing Hazug cut yet another slit to create a rough ‘U’ shape in the ceiling before stepping away. “Stand clear lads,” he said before swinging the weapon again and cutting a square section of the ceiling free. The section of ceiling came crashing down into the duct and smashed onto the floor where small bits of stone broke off on impact. Most of the section remained intact, however, and Hazug used this a step to stand on while he slowly stuck his head up through the hole. At first he saw nothing, but there was the pounding of metal on stone coming from behind him and Hazug turned to see what was causing it, and found himself staring at an army of metal warriors all marching in step. As quickly as he could, Hazug ducked back into the hole. “Wot’s up dare boss?” Gobnok asked. “Keep ya voice down lad,” Hazug whispered back, “dem metal skeleton lads is above us.” “Ow many boss?” Ghukil whispered. “’Undreds at least, thousands maybe, marchin’ right past us. Ratish get up dare and see wot dey is doin’,” and with that Hazug grabbed hold of the gretchin and lifted him up to the hole above his head. He let go when he felt Ratish grab hold of the edge of the hole and heave himself out of it. Ratish saw the ranks of necron troops as soon as his master lifted him up to the hole, but just as when Hazug had seen them they were all looking directly ahead of themselves rather than in the direction of the hole. Ratish saw that there was a doorway in the shadows nearby that would give him somewhere to observe the necrons while making it less likely that they would also notice him. He dashed towards the shadows and pressed himself against the door and looked at the necrons once more. The necron warriors were identical in their appearance, humanoid metal skeletons carrying rifle-sized weapons that had barrels made of the strange green crystal that appeared through out their machinery. Row after row of them marched past Ratish without any of them making any form of movement other than to keep in step with all of the other marching skeletons. Ratish ran back to the hole. “Dey is just
marchin’ master,” he said into the hole.” “Ratish not know master, but they all go da same way.” In the duct below the street Hazug turned to his troops. “Right lads,” he said, “we is getting out ‘ere. I aint cuttin’ no more ‘oles over me ‘ead if dares a chance dat an army of dem skeletons fallin’ on top of us. I think we is better off takin’ our chances with da flyin’ machines.” The other orks all nodded and made comments supporting this strategy as Hazug began to pull himself out of the duct and on the street above. When he was clear there was a scrabble to determine the order in which the remaining orks would follow him. “Quickly master,” Ratish said as Hazug climbed free of the hole, “da shadows,” and the comparatively tiny creature took hold of his master to pull him towards the darkness nearby. Upon reaching the relative safety of the shadows Hazug turned back to the hole and saw Ghukil climbing out. Seeing that Hazug was not at the top of the hole, Ghukil looked around before exiting it completely, and upon seeing where his leader was concealing himself he passed the information back into the hole. “We ‘ave to leg it for da shadows at da side of da nearest buildin’,” he said before pulling himself free of the hole and sprinting towards Hazug and Ratish. One after another the remaining orks also climbed out of the hole and ran into the shadows where Hazug was using the tau viewing device to observe the necron warriors marching past at the end of the road. “Wherever dey is goin’, I bet its important,” Hazug said, “and I wants to know wot dat is.” “But ‘ow
boss?” Zhagrad asked, “If we goes closer dey’ll see us.” “We go down dare,” he said pointing in the direction he was looking, “den we move along da next street dat runs in da same way as da one dey is marchin’ along. Every time we finds another road dat links da two together we can take a look down it to see if dey is still marchin’ past,” then, without waiting for his troops to react to his instruction, Hazug stood up and ran down the street away from the marching necrons, keeping to the shadows as he did so. Almost immediately Ratish followed his master, followed by the other orks after a brief pause. Yet again, and in spite of the many sources of information available to it, the necron mind had lost track of the intruders to the complex. It knew that a swarm of scarabs had engaged them in the complex’s service ducts, but also following an explosion not only had the scarabs ceased transmitting but also damage had been caused to the complex itself. This could be repaired, but it was still an unwelcome distraction when the mind was not only searching for intruders but also directing a battle half way across the continent. The battle was at least progressing well, the city’s occupants had fallen back to within its thick walls while the largest of their fighting machines had been isolated from their supporting forces and were for the moment nothing more than a nuisance on a flank. With the forces that were now amassed to be sent via the monoliths to join the attack on the city, its destruction was a certainty. Peering over the low wall on the side of a bridge that stretched over a wide ravine that ran through the city, Hazug used the tau viewer again. In front of him was an enormous open area that was full of necron troops. Most were of the basic rifleman type, but he also saw some armed with the long blades on their hands that the first of these necrons had possessed, while elsewhere were slightly larger models that carried bigger rifles also, and finally, here and there, were more of the necrons’ equivalents of himself. These lords stood alone rather than in the ranks that their troops had formed, and much like ork nobs they carried a variety of weapons and equipment. Without exception, the necrons all faced in a single direction and ahead of them were a row of platforms and on each platform was a glowing vertical rectangle of light. As Hazug watched, some of the necrons advanced towards one of them and as they got closer they reorganised themselves into a column. When the alien warrior at the head of the column stepped into the light he vanished. “Teleportas,” Hazug said as more necrons advanced towards the rectangles of light and disappeared. “Where is dey goin’?” Ghukil asked. “To da city I
think,” Hazug said, “dem lights look just like da ones on dare pyramid
wagons.” “With wot lad?
We only got da lifta gas bomb and a few stikkbombs, and we’d ‘ave to fight
our way through da metal lads first too. Besides I want to keep dem
teleportas workin’.” “Because we is goin’ to use ‘em to get out of ‘ere,” Hazug told him, before he looked up to where the spire at the heart of the underground city reached upwards towards the roof of the cavern, “Now let’s find a way around dat army and plant dis bomb.” All along the city walls orks fired their weapons towards the advanced horde of necron warriors as even more of them emerged from the pyramids that floated behind them. Here and there some the necrons fell from the gunfire, but many of those that did were able to get back to their feet after a short time. Warboss Zhalrad was growing increasingly angry as one gretchin messenger after another brought news of ork units reporting that they were out of ammunition and withdrawing from the walls to find more. “At dis rate dare won’t be anyone left on da walls at all,” Drazzok said. “Wot would a weirdo like you know about it den?” Zhalrad replied. “Only wot I seen in thirty years of fightin’. Ya need to get some runtherds up ‘ere, den ya tell ‘em to send all dare grots to da mek shops and bring back all da ammo dey can carry. Split it between ya lads and ‘ave da grots go back and bring more before it runs out.” Warboss Zhalrad stared at Drazzok for a moment and the ork nobs gathered around looked at one another nervously, some of them remembering what had happened to the nob who had pointed out that Hazug had warned him about the necrons and that he had ignored the warning. Sat in a corner, Sophie noticed their agitation and pressed her seat up against the wall. She had seen orks lash out in anger many times. “Good idea weirdo,” Zhalrad said and there was a collective release of breath from the assembled nobs. Then he yelled out “Grot!” and a gretchin stepped towards the warboss, “Go find me a runtherd, and bring ‘im ‘ere.” “Yes lord,” the gretchin said before running from the command post. “And ya’ll want to get as many stikkbombs together as ya can for ay lads,” Drazzok said to warboss Zhalrad, “dey should be able to chuck ‘em pretty far from upon da walls. Oh, and if dare’s any lobbas left ya should ‘ave ‘em shoot over da walls.” “Watch it weirdo,” Zhalrad said sternly, “I is still da warboss and I is much bigger dan ya.” Drazzok just grunted and sat down next to Sophie. “I ‘ope Hazug’s ‘avin’ better luck dan dis berk,” he whispered to her before grabbing a half eaten roast squig that someone had abandoned on a nearby table and devouring what was left of it. The direct route to the spire would have taken Hazug and his warband right through the middle of the necron army assembled in front of him, and there were many orks who have died trying to fight their through. But, as Blood Axes, Hazug’s warband regarded stealth and deception as acceptable strategies rather than being unhanded, sneaky and fit only for gretchin and humans. To begin with the group travelled back the way they had come for a short distance until they reached a point where there were no more necron troops marching past on the road that had been filled with them. Then they made their way directly towards the spire, passing behind the last of the marching necrons as they approached the necrons’ assembly area. “Right lads,” Hazug whispered, “I think we is past ‘em all now so let’s get a move on.” The greenskins quickened their pace towards the spire, ever alert for any signs that they may have been discovered. Then Hazug stopped suddenly and the others barely avoided crashing into one another as they also came to a stop behind him. “Right lads,” he said, “looks like dis is it.” Ahead of them lay the base of the spire, though wide at street level it appeared to taper rapidly further up though even at its highest point there would be enough room on a single level to hold hundreds of orks if it were a single open area. The spire was at the centre of a circular clearing in the surrounding buildings, between which many roads led directly towards the spire itself. The crystal that illuminated the cavern that held the city was directly above this place, and its eerie green light provided ample light to see here rather than the strangely coloured twilight that permeated much of the rest of the city. With such visibility Hazug could see that the necrons had positioned no guards around this side of the base of the spire. More importantly he could see that there was another of the doors of liquid metal almost directly ahead of them. “Da way is clear lads,” he told the warband, “when I say we leg it for dat doorway over dare and I’ll use dat hummie mek’s gismo to open it up for us. Got it?” “Got it boss,” the orks responded almost in unison. “Right. Go!” and with that command the warband ran for the door.
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